Temperature Distribution in an Internal Reforming Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell : Influence of the Flow Direction of the Fuel in a Reforming Unit

In order to minimize the cell-temperature gradient in an indirect internal reforming molten carbonate fuel cell (IIR-MCFC), three directions of fuel (CH4) flow in the reforming unit have been investigated. Temperature distribution in each type of stack was analyzed, and experiments were also conducted. As a result of the analysis, it was suggested that the temperature gradinent was minimized when the fuel in the reforming unit flowed perpendicular to the flow direction of the reformed gas in the anode gas channel while the cathode gas flowed in a diagonal direction to that of the reformed gas. The analytical results were compared with the experimental results, and reasonable agreement was obtained. As a consequence, it was found that the analytical method was useful for stack designing.